JUDGE RULES 90-POUND DOG HARDLY NEIGHBORLY

Charles MountCHICAGO TRIBUNE

Attorneys from two prominent Chicago law firms have spent an estimated 150 hours, taken 16 depositions and brought in two expert witnesses, all to find out whether Rex, a 90-pound Rottweiler, is a nuisance or simply rambunctious.

Cook County Circuit Judge Edwin Berman resolved half of the case Monday when he ruled that the 5-year-old dog, whose digs are in Barrington Hills, is a nuisance because of his unprovoked, frightening attacks on neighbors.

Tuesday, Berman will decide whether Rex`s owners, Karl and Chris Schiffmayer, will have to put him to sleep, move him out of state or keep him in an ''absolutely'' enclosed environment accessible only to them.

The ruling may end about a year`s work by William Barr Jr., an attorney for Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, which represents five neighbors, and Michael Francis Healy, of Phillips, Healy & Allen, which is defending Rex and his owners.

The group of neighbors filed suit last August after one of them, Margaret McFeely, was seriously bitten on both arms and her back, requiring five days of hospitalization. McFeely was attacked while taking her daily walk down the private road serving the estates.

During the trial, witnesses told of biting incidents and how Rex would chase cars and run up to them in a frightening manner while being allowed to run lose.

But Healy pointed out that the McFeely incident was the only biting. He said that two of the plaintiffs never complained to the Schiffmayers or to police and that Rex had not been allowed to run loose for more than a year.